Legal abortion requests and outcomes for women when the law is restrictive – experience from a referral centre in south-eastern Brazil

Abstract

Objective : To evaluate requests for legal abortion due to pregnancies resulting from sexual violence (SV) in a reference service, and characterise and compare the outcome groups. Methods Retrospective cohort study with review of medical records of women assisted between 2015 and 2020. The variables were socio-demographic and SV characteristics, gestational age, reactions towards pregnancy and outcome. We compared outcome groups using the chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test and the Kruskal–Wallis test. The significance level was 5%. Results We evaluated the medical records of 235 women, of which 153(65%) had undergone to abortion; 17(7.2%) had a spontaneous abortion; 19(8%) remained pregnant; 25(10.6%) had an abortion denied; and 21(8.9%) had been lost to follow-up. Out of the total number of women, 44(18.7%) were adolescents, 152(65.2%) were white and 201(88.5%) had an education ≥9 years. Women who remained pregnant had a known aggressor, disclosed the pregnancy (p < 0.001) and were more ambivalent (p < 0.001) than the other groups. Gestational age was higher in the denied abortion group than in the performed abortion group (p < 0.001). Conclusion Feelings related to decision-making about abortion affected all groups, with differences. It is important to give women space to be heard, so they can make their own decisions.